Top Spin 3 Hands-on

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Bringing timing and precision to the court.

By Nate Ahearn

For a long while now videogame tennis hasn't been tennis at all. Instead what we've all been playing with the Virtua Tennis and Top Spin series of the world is a glorified version of Pong from the 1970s. Tennis is a game of timing, placement, athletic proficiency and mental tenacity. Top Spin 3 hits on the majority of those key aspects as it hopes to deliver one of the best pure tennis experiences around when it ships in June 23.

Typically tennis games are about getting your man (or woman) in position, holding a shot button and then watching the animation -- be it forehand, backhand or overhead -- carry out without worry about unforced errors less the occasional "risk shot," a mechanic that some games attempted to employ. Top Spin 3 is able to effectively change the generic error free style play by incorporating an element of timing into the core gameplay. Instead of holding down one of the four shot buttons and watching your play slap at the ball on-screen you'll now have to time the release of your shot with the desired swing of your player. Time it incorrectly and the ball will float behind you, altering the fluidity of the stroke and thus its overall effectiveness.

It sounds a bit scientific and is no doubt daunting for those who have spent the better part of their lives toying with shallower tennis titles, but after an hour or two of mastering the new hitting system it does become more natural. The controller features nice vibration feedback to let you know when you've perfectly timed your swing, though the increased speed of the ball should be enough of a sign.

Footwork and being able to get your player in the proper place in enough time before the ball arrives, all the while concentrating on pressing and releasing the shot button at just the right time, is another important piece to the Top Spin 3 puzzle. The players move with an increased feeling of momentum and inertia so chances are if you try to predict your opponent's shot too early and pick the wrong direction you won't be able to recover. That also means that when you go streaking across the court to track down a hopeful winner from your opponent that your momentum is going to carry you well past the original point of contact. Making the next shot all that tougher to get to.

Working up a sweat.

The last element of tennis that Top Spin 3 manages to hit on is that of athletic prowess, represented in the game by your stamina attribute. This simple number then translates into speed and movement on the court. As your on-court avatar presses on you'll notice things like sweat and heavy breathing affecting your player. They'll also get clay on their shirts and shorts as they slide around the slow stuff. There's a new heartbeat meter that also has an impact on your player's performance. Your blood pressure will quicken depending on what's going on in the match and how well you're performing which will then have an impact on your abilities.

It's interesting to see Federer use his silky smooth moves to skirt around the court for the first two sets and then see a steady decline as you get into the third set. It will change players' strategies, making the newly defined risk shots all that much more important.